Grab Retrenching 360 People & Will Give them Emotional Support & Laptop on Top of Severance Payment

As the ongoing pandemic ravages the nation’s safety and financial prowess alike, businesses have been forced to either shut down all operations, or lay off their employees in light of the epidemic-induced recession.

Truly, these are sad times.

And it seems that Grab, a ride-hailing service that has all but monopolised the private-hire industry, is no different.

Despite being the biggest private-hire service in the country with a successful food delivery ‘sideline’, Grab has also seen its revenue fall as the Covid-19 wreaks havoc across the world.

And while they are still well enough to resume operations, the financial toll has caused certain aspects of the business to be deemed surplus to requirements…

Including a certain percentage of their own employees.

Grab Retrenching 360 People & Will Give them Emotional Support & Laptop on Top of Severance Payment

According to the official website of the private-hire service, Grab CEO and Co-Founder Anthony Tan has delivered a note to employees, stating that the company is letting go of around 360 Grabbers – or just under 5 per cent of their employees.

In the note, Mr Tan stressed that the company had no other choice but to arrive at such a conclusion.

To “tackle the challenges of the post-pandemic economy”, Grab will be “sunsetting” some non-core projects, “consolidating functions” for heightened effectiveness, “right-sizing” teams to match their shifting business needs and “doubling-down” on their “delivery verticals”.

To salvage jobs, they have also redeployed several resources, including the re-assignment of Grabbers over to the food delivery side of things. It’s also the reason why the layoff rate remains at just under 5 per cent.

The retrenchment will purportedly be the company’s last organisation-wide layoff for 2020. Mr Tan also states that the company will strive on with a renewed purpose, as they endeavour to prevent such a “painful” exercise from happening ever again.

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Support Packages

Grabbers who are part of the layoff exercise will be entitled to the following support packages:

• Severance pay of half a month for every 6 months of completed service, or dependent on local statutory guidelines, whichever is higher.
• Enhanced separation payment equating to around 1.5 months of salary on top of the severance pay, as added assistance for the current crisis and bonus for work done in 2020.
• Waiver of annual cliffs for equity vesting, which means that Grabbers can leave as shareholders.
• Medical insurance coverage until the end of 2020 through existing medical insurance or a stipend equivalent.
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Encashment of unused accrued annual leave and unused GrabFlex credits
• Career transition and development support: recruiters and companies will be able to reach out to laid-off Grabbers for opportunities; impacted Grabbers will also have access to sessions with a life coach and half a year’s worth of online learning tools.
• Emotional support, which you will be able to access for 3 months after your last date of employment.
• Option to keep your laptop

He also expressed his gratitude to all the Grabbers for contributing to the company, and ended off by saying that they will always be part of the Grab family.

You can view the original note here.

Don’t Give Up

As I said earlier on, these are sad times… trying times, so to speak. And that’s especially so for those who are unable to work or earn income in this time of crisis.

But to those, I implore; do not give up. As PM Lee said himself, do not fear, do not lose heart.

We will get through this, no matter how long it takes.

Until then, focus on self-development. Classes. Bonding. Some may deem the current period to be a disastrous one with little to no use, but as long as you use it correctly…

You may just come out of this as a better, stronger individual.

You got this.

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